Chapter 26: Apples and Scoundrels

"This way, Riba!" Lucas exclaimed. He and Riba were running through town like a bunch of kids. It had been a few days since Riba's trial. It was surprisingly tame for its name. Just a quiz. Nobody else had even signed up for the job, so he pretty much got it right away.

"Wait up!" Riba shouted, happily. He was lagging behind. He could see a huge tree in the distance. Was that where they were going? Lucas had given him a basket for some reason.

Soon, they were at the foot of the tree. "Why did you bring me here?" Riba asked.

"We're picking apples," Lucas replied. "This place has the best kind I've ever had. It's the best part of the whole town!"

The road here had been long. They had to go through all of town, and then the Silent Forest. All this way just for a few lousy apples? "I don't see the point," Riba complained.

"Aw, what do you mean?" Lucas asked, as a haze of apple blossoms came their way. "The point is to have fun."

"I guess," Riba groaned. He didn't see how hard manual labor was fun. He used to enjoy this type of stuff when he was a kid, gathering Honey Syrup from the trees back home. But the novelty of it had kind of worn off over time.

"Now, there's no time to waste!" Lucas exclaimed, energetically. "Let's pick some apples!"

Riba and Lucas climbed the tree. "The best stuff is at the top," Lucas stated. This was obvious to Riba. Riba wobbled on a branch, but Lucas grabbed his hand. "Careful, there. You could have gotten hurt."

Riba looked up at Lucas dumbfoundedly. "Yeah, I could..."

Soon, they had filled both of their baskets up with apples. They looked delicious. Riba eyed them, as Lucas took a hearty bite out of one of his own apples. Riba inched his mouth towards the apple, cautiously, and took a bite. It was... delicious beyond words! So much better than Honey Syrup.

Riba almost forgot how to swallow in that moment. The tantalizing flavor was too much for him to handle. "Don't tell me this is your first time having apples!" Lucas almost yelled, joyously. He gathered all the information he needed for this question from Riba's face.

Riba swallowed. "It actually is..." Riba stated.

"No way," Lucas laughed. "We have to do this more often."

"Yeah, that sounds good," Riba replied, smiling awkwardly. But genuinely. Lucas smiled back, as they continued their fruity meal.

Even later on, Riba had gotten his first payment. He threw the coins into the air, and caught them again. He was wandering around district 3, the shopping center of Evangeline. Riba was singing a song to himself quietly.

Something caught Riba's eye amongst the crowd and other shops. It was a toy shop. Riba always had an interest in collecting toys. Whenever his family wandered by the toy store in Honyrup Town, he always peered into the glass window. But he only ever got Spotty. Riba couldn't pass up this offer. He would only spend a little anyways, with enough leftover to rent a house after.

"Hello, sir," Riba greeted, pushing his way through the crowd to approach the old man operating the toy shop. He had his back turned. "I was wondering if I could buy a toy?" Riba felt a little ridiculous asking for toys at this age, but it had to be done.

The man turned around quickly. He was wearing a strange mask. Riba almost jumped back. Riba quickly gathered his bearings. Just a mask. "Hey, nice mask. How much for it?" Riba snickered, trying to save face from appearing so scared.

"What a rude question!" The man exclaimed, in an oddly feminine voice. "I'm no mask! I'm Vittoria, the Master of Drama!"

"You got that right," Riba mumbled under his breath.

"So you're asking for a toy?" Vittoria asked. "Well then, how does this catch your fancy?" Vittoria reached into a bag and pulled out a blank, small, almost balloon animal-looking... toy... in the shape of a dog. It looked to have aged mummy wrappings on it. Riba confusedly took it. It felt like a small bean bag when squeezed.

"There's no way I'm paying for this," Riba replied, feeling mocked.

The seemingly permanent smile on the mask's face fell. Wait... Riba's eyes must have been playing tricks on him. Was this mask magic? Magic was highly condemned in Evangeline. The price to pay for it was death. Luckily for Vittoria, nobody else seemed to notice.

"Oh, you do not likie?" Vittoria asked. "Well wait 'til you see this!" The mask's smile returned. Vittoria's actual face remained dead blank as always. Riba then noticed the man's mouth never moved while Vittoria talked. Was the mask controlling him?

Vittoria used the man to snatch the balloon animal toy from Riba, and clasped it between the man's hands. The man shifted his hands around a little, and raised one from the other. No way... Riba's eyes were definitely deceiving him. In the toy's place, was... an exact replica of Spotty.

"Spotty!" Riba exclaimed. He got a few strange glances from passersby. "How much do you want for it? I'll give you all I have!" Riba held up his coins.

"Mmmmm, That looks good," Vittoria accepted. The man reached his hand forward and grabbed the coins. In exchange, he gave Riba the replica of Spotty. Riba took it and hugged Spotty, as the two lifelong friends reunited. Riba then realized... this wasn't just an exact replica or the same in a toy line. This was the exact Spotty he had had all his life. There was even a stain from when Riba spilled some Honey Syrup on him. This was even better than a replica!

Wait a minute...

"Hey! Give me back my money, thief!" Riba shouted, gaining attention from a particular girl in the crowd. She watched intently from around the corner as the events unfolded.

"Well, it's been fun, but now I must make my dramatic exit!" Vittoria laughed, running away. "Toodles!" Vittoria jumped into the air and clapped their heels together despite their apparent age, and then continued to run. But then, like a bullet, the small girl shot forward and tackled Vittoria.

"Give me the money!" The small girl shouted, hitting and kicking at Vittoria. The girl had dirty blonde hair and emerald green eyes, and raggedy clothes. "Do you hear me?!" This got the attention of the whole crowd. People made space for the fight. Almost as if this girl was already feared amongst all of them.

"Okay, uncle, uncle!" Vittoria cried. Vittoria forked over the coins, and they disappeared into the girl's hand with an all too familiar jingle and golden sparkle. The girl let go, and Vittoria stood up. "My, my, what a drama queen!" Vittoria ran off as soon as the girl held up her fist.

The girl was about to take off again, when Riba approached her. She looked up at him. "Hey, those are my coins," Riba said, calmly, kneeling down to her. "Could you please give them back?"

The girl held the coins away, sadly. "Now, now... that horrible masked man tricked me into giving them to him," Riba said. He held out his hand. The girl reluctantly reached forward and dropped the coins back into his hand. "Thank you."

Riba was about to walk away, when the girl asked him something. "Mister, why do you treat me so well compared to everyone else?" She asked. Riba turned back, and suddenly, everything went white.